New players, coming soon...looking for advice.

[UltraChin]

Hi there, both me and my g/f have decided to leave our capes in Paragon City and head to the dizzy heights of Beards and Orcs....but with us we bring questions and seek advice.

First, we will pretty much always play as a duo....atleast at the start while we learn the ropes and was wondering what Classes pair well together? There are a few things to bear in mind tho, if possible we'd both like to start as the same race and to start with, we'll be casual players (probably playing a couple of times a week, no more than a few hours at a time) and we'll only be using the standard WoW box, not Burning Crusade...so none of the new races.

We're not really fussed on what race we play, altho I do have a thing for Dwarves, Orcs and the Cow looking things (forget the name)...completely open to suggestions as this is completely new ground, or least it will be in a month or so when we get here.

Thanks in advance.

[mesonm]

tauren (cow looking thing) druid and undead warlock?

[Xlorep DarkHelm]

Hi there, both me and my g/f have decided to leave our capes in Paragon City and head to the dizzy heights of Beards and Orcs....but with us we bring questions and seek advice.

First, we will pretty much always play as a duo....atleast at the start while we learn the ropes and was wondering what Classes pair well together? There are a few things to bear in mind tho, if possible we'd both like to start as the same race and to start with, we'll be casual players (probably playing a couple of times a week, no more than a few hours at a time) and we'll only be using the standard WoW box, not Burning Crusade...so none of the new races.

We're not really fussed on what race we play, altho I do have a thing for Dwarves, Orcs and the Cow looking things (forget the name)...completely open to suggestions as this is completely new ground, or least it will be in a month or so when we get here.

Thanks in advance.

You don't need to be the same race to play together. Just the same faction, either Horde (Tauren, Orc, Troll, or Undead, Blood Elves are an option with Burning Crusade, which it really, quite honestly, is a good idea to get the Battle Chest with Burning Crusade rather than play the game without it) or Alliance (Human, Night Elf, Dwarf, Gnome, or with Burning Crusade there is Draenei).

At this point, like I mentioned earlier, there is really no reason to "just play the original boxed set, and not burning Crusade". The Battle Chest is rather inexpensive, and you get the full game with Burning Crusade in it. There are honestly better starting quests in the Blood Elf and Draenei starting areas than the other races (in my opinion). BNut if you really *want* to waste more money in the long run, then by all means, just get the original box, and then later pay for Burning Crusade, and pay 2x as much as you would have if you just got two WoW Battle Chests. I mean, if you like to waste the money.

[irogue]

If you plan to do dungeons, get a Tank + Healer combo and you will have no problem finding a 5 man instance group.

Healers: priest, druid, shaman, paladin.
Tanks: Warrior, druid, paladin.

If you are on a PVP server, you might want to level more than one character at the same time. When you get ganked or camped, you can log out and play the other ones.

[Your Average WoW Player]

Race doesn't matter really in WoW. It's the class and player-skill that makes the biggest difference.

If you two plan on grouping together a lot but not do instances all that much, then the sky is pretty much your limit with the class combos. (Although two healers would be agonizingly slow). In that case, the two of you should agree on a faction (Horde or Alliance) and then do the pretty much generic advice that's given here in selecting classes:
Both of you pick 2-4 race/class combos that interest you and make a character for each. Level all of them to about 20-30 and see which one interests you the best and then go from there.

If you plan on doing instances a lot, then as stated above, a Healer and a Tank would be an amazing combo as it would make your life insanely easier in getting groups. More often then not you'll get 3 Damage Dealing classes, or DPS classes in WoW, looking for a healer and a tank. If you can eliminate the hardest jobs to get, then it'll make getting instances easier.
Here's a rundown of tanking and healing classes:
Tanking: Feral Druids, Protection Warriors and Protection Paladins.
Healing: Holy Priests, Holy Paladins, Restoration Shamans, and Restoration Druids.

If you're wondering what the prefixes before the classes are that's the Talent Spec for the class that would focus on doing the job at hand. Each class has three Specs they can take.

[elsegundo]

You're kinda going the expensive route if you're buying the expansion seperate. just get the battle chest, it has both, and its cheaper than buying the two seperate by about $10 each. so you're saving yourselves $20 in the long run. all up to you though.

as for combinations, a lot of classes work well together, but the most popular one would be the tank/healer combo. for this, you can do two taurens- druid/warrior. and the druid can change to meet the needs of the two also.

as for orcs, there are many combinations too. warlock/warrior works decently well enough. or hunter/warrior, or even two rogues. i see a lot of saps and stuns to pull this off well.

in terms of dwarves, i see paladin/priest, paladin/rogue... cant think of anything else.

just try them out. you'll have plenty of time to try pretty much all the classes out. your biggest concern is which faction to choose (horde or alliance). neither is better than the other, however story/journey is different.

oh and play on a PvP server if you like the random encounters against other factions and killing. otherwise, play on a Normal server.

[Cattleya]

You don't need to be the same race to play together. Just the same faction, either Horde (Tauren, Orc, Troll, or Undead, Blood Elves are an option with Burning Crusade, which it really, quite honestly, is a good idea to get the Battle Chest with Burning Crusade rather than play the game without it) or Alliance (Human, Night Elf, Dwarf, Gnome, or with Burning Crusade there is Draenei).


While you only need to be the same faction to play together, can you imagine just starting out and trying to get a level one character from the Blood Elf starting area to the Tauren one? It might be trivial when you know the game, but it would certainly be a major pain for someone who doesn't know the game and how to travel in it very well. Besides that, running a character to another starting area means you miss out on the early quests that help set a tone for the race.

I think a Tauren druid and shaman combo might be fun, and both classes have a lot of flexibility in what role they play. However, pretty much any combination can work just fine. It's more important that you play a character that you enjoy than it is to min/max the perfect combination.

[Zendarin]

While you only need to be the same faction to play together, can you imagine just starting out and trying to get a level one character from the Blood Elf starting area to the Tauren one? It might be trivial when you know the game, but it would certainly be a major pain for someone who doesn't know the game and how to travel in it very well. Besides that, running a character to another starting area means you miss out on the early quests that help set a tone for the race.

I think a Tauren druid and shaman combo might be fun, and both classes have a lot of flexibility in what role they play. However, pretty much any combination can work just fine. It's more important that you play a character that you enjoy than it is to min/max the perfect combination.

Having played just about every race/class combo in the game I would have to disagree. Tauren Druid is one of the hardest classes to start out with - the Druid quests for Horde were far more difficult for me that the alliance side quests - and traveling in the crossroads as a druid is nothing less than a royal pain.

Troll Shaman, on the other hand, has been an absolute blast - ghost wolf pretty much offsets the distance traveled. Playing both together, however, would be a major headache from lvl 12-30 when one of the pair has a fast travel form and the other doesn't. Not a combo I would choose at all.

Probably the easiest area I have found for leveling up through the first 30 levels is the human starting area.

As far as class - just about any combination is good for just questing. As others have said a tanking class will make things much easier to get pick up groups for dungeons (instances) but this isn't necessarilly a big part of your time spent.

Druid is extremely versatile but I found it much easier to level a night elf druid than I did my horde druid - and I am on my second horde druid now (my guild is in need of druids) - just hit lvl 17 last night.

Most important thing is to pick a race and then choose 2 classes from that race that you think would be fun to play. If one of those classes can either tank or heal so much the better - but no combo is a show stopper.

[Xlorep DarkHelm]

While you only need to be the same faction to play together, can you imagine just starting out and trying to get a level one character from the Blood Elf starting area to the Tauren one? It might be trivial when you know the game, but it would certainly be a major pain for someone who doesn't know the game and how to travel in it very well. Besides that, running a character to another starting area means you miss out on the early quests that help set a tone for the race.

I think a Tauren druid and shaman combo might be fun, and both classes have a lot of flexibility in what role they play. However, pretty much any combination can work just fine. It's more important that you play a character that you enjoy than it is to min/max the perfect combination.

True, but a Blood Elf and an Undead. Or an Orc and Troll. Or heck, a Tauren and Orc or Tauren and Troll isn't bad either, even starting out.

[Pharoahe]

Says you live in London, so if you're looking to get help on alliance side, PM me/whisper me on the Doomhammer realm :)

[Wintrow]

As Xlorep probably meant:
- The capital cities for Blood Elves and Undead have a "easy-access" teleporter between them. You'd only need to do the easy-as-pie starting quests alone to get to L6 and then meet up in one of the zones (I suggest the Blood Elf one, less gloomy, better, more fun quests)
There is also an easily accessible zeppelin that connects the Undead city with the Orc/Troll one.
- Trolls and Orcs start out right at the same spot.
- Tauren are the only Horde race that's pretty much alone until level 10+ when Orc, Troll and Tauren come together in The Barrens.
but L10 is VERY quick to get to, especially compared to CoH.

Alliance:
- Draenei and Night Elves don't have a teleporter but CAN easily come together in their L10+ levels as well by taking a boat. I advise getting the Night Elf to the Draenei.
- Dwarfs and Gnomes start together.
- Humans might seem "alone", but there is a direct and very fast tram line connection (not as fast as the CoH subway though :tongue:) between their capital and the Dwarf/Gnome capital.
In this respect, Alliance are less alone than Horde.

Before TBC it was worse. Night Elves were totally cut off until L20+ and even then they still had their own zones. I think I only went to see the other races at L35-ish when Ashenvale stopped having quests and the upper Stonetalon Mountains-quests were too hard.

Getting to the other races was no small feat as well since you'd have to run through "dangerous terrain" (well, dangerous for low-levels).

On the Horde side the Undead were the isolated ones, but they have the zeppelin to quickly switch.

[Cattleya]

True, but a Blood Elf and an Undead. Or an Orc and Troll. Or heck, a Tauren and Orc or Tauren and Troll isn't bad either, even starting out.

I don't know. I remember my friend having to corpse run his poor level 1 Tauren through the barrens to meet up with the troll and orc me and my friend were playing. (And he knew exactly where to go already.) If you want to start together at level 1 without that headache, you would either need to be the same race, or two races that start in the same area (like Orcs and Trolls.)

Although, BE and Undead wouldn't be too bad as there aren't any dangerous mobs to avoid really. However, it would still not be completely trivial if you weren't familiar with the layout of the areas. (Take the wrong path from Undercity and you will be in the Plaguelands. :grin: ) The translocator isn't necessarily intuitive either. (It's not like you get a tooltip telling you what will happen if you click it — at least I don't get one.)

I just think it makes sense for them to jump into the game together in the same starting area and avoid the extra effort of meeting up somehow for their first characters.

Having played just about every race/class combo in the game I would have to disagree. Tauren Druid is one of the hardest classes to start out with - the Druid quests for Horde were far more difficult for me that the alliance side quests - and traveling in the crossroads as a druid is nothing less than a royal pain.I can't imagine druids have it any harder in the barrens than my priest did. I also know my friend much preferred leveling his Tauren Druid to his BE rogue.

I guess what I'm saying is that you would pretty much have to not use your talent points to make leveling any characters hard. Some might be quicker than others, but none of it is hard. Besides, being teamed up will make things even easier.

Troll Shaman, on the other hand, has been an absolute blast - ghost wolf pretty much offsets the distance traveled. Playing both together, however, would be a major headache from lvl 12-30 when one of the pair has a fast travel form and the other doesn't. Not a combo I would choose at all. I've put up with friends who waited until their late 60s to do their epic mount quests. So, the shaman just has to walk a bit instead of using Ghost Wolf. Using travel speed differences as a criteria really limits things too much. No hunters, no mages (blink), no shamans, no druids (they do eventually get a travel form pre-mount). The faster person will just have to suck it up and wait. It's not like you don't end up waiting for someone to grab a mining node or herb node all the time anyhow. We generally adapt just fine to that. :grin:


However, I wasn't saying that was the ultimate choice by any stretch of the imagination. It just seemed like something that might work for them based on the (limited) information we have. There are tons of options that are available. The best thing for them to do is to each pick a class that seems interesting to them, and to go with it.

[UltraChin]

Cheers for all the info, firstly i'd like to say that the reason I was only using the original box is because I brought a copy about 3 yrs ago and never started it up...just made sense to me to just buy another copy, but it its better to buy a combined box, I could easily go for that instead.

I was looking at both starting as the same race, simply so we both started in the same area and team straight from the get go. I'm kinda liking the idea of the Tank/Healer combo...altho my time playing Tanks in CoH as proved that they lack damage in most cases, so battles ended up drawn out. Is it the same case here?

[elsegundo]

Cheers for all the info, firstly i'd like to say that the reason I was only using the original box is because I brought a copy about 3 yrs ago and never started it up...just made sense to me to just buy another copy, but it its better to buy a combined box, I could easily go for that instead.

I was looking at both starting as the same race, simply so we both started in the same area and team straight from the get go. I'm kinda liking the idea of the Tank/Healer combo...altho my time playing Tanks in CoH as proved that they lack damage in most cases, so battles ended up drawn out. Is it the same case here?

you have a box. just get the expansion when you're ready for it.

and get your girlfriend the battlechest. saves you $10 US, or whatever that translates to in your currency.

Yes its the same case here. but as a tank with healer, you can possible chain kill several guys at once. what you can do is try the warrior/shaman combo or the warrior/druid combo. though your shaman or druid wont heal as well as a priest, its able heal sufficiently. plus you get the benefit of self resurrection with the shaman. the druid, if put in a tight spot, can change forms and dash out of there asap, then return to do the resurrection. shamans and druids also have better armor so they can take a larger beating than a priest if they do overheal. plus... there's a lot of plusses. haha.

oh and there's the paladins.

there's a lot of combinations. you might want to watch some videos of each class and see which ones appeal to you. if you decide on making a dranei or a bloodelf, you'll need the expansion.

have fun and do come back here for more questions!

[Cattleya]

As you level up, you can spec for damage, and still tank/heal when needed. (It will just take a bit more work.) It really isn't until you get near 70 that being speced for healing/tanking becomes more important. (You can always change your spec for a fee.) Some classes are better at filling in the off-spec role than others, but I think most can handle it as long as they keep a set of gear for the job. (Also, druids have it easiest, since as feral, they are designed both to tank in bear form and dps in cat form. It's one of the reasons I originally recommended it.)

[elsegundo]

or... if you're that concerned over dps... just do two warriors. double the dps of one warrior guaranteed.

[Zendarin]

I've put up with friends who waited until their late 60s to do their epic mount quests. So, the shaman just has to walk a bit instead of using Ghost Wolf. Using travel speed differences as a criteria really limits things too much. No hunters, no mages (blink), no shamans, no druids (they do eventually get a travel form pre-mount). The faster person will just have to suck it up and wait. It's not like you don't end up waiting for someone to grab a mining node or herb node all the time anyhow. We generally adapt just fine to that. :grin:


Apparently my points weren't clear. The problem is the huge distances you have to travel in the barrens. With the shaman is wasn't a concern due to Ghost wolf - with my other horde character (which happens to be a tauren druid) the travel times have been horrendous.

As far as NE druid being easier - this is referring to the Druid specific quests. I was able to complete all of them easilly at the same level I got them with the NE, with the Tauren I have had to wait several levels to be able to complete all except the bear form quest.

The shaman gets a 30% speed increase at a very low level which makes questing through the barrens tolerable.

As I said, I have tried just about every race/class combo available spread across multiple servers and the tauren Druid has been the slowest and most frustrating of all of them... and I have done that one twice now - this last time with a great deal of game experience behind me.

Your including a mage in this is just ridiculous. I have 2 mages and my wife has 3 - blink is a neat trick for helping with traveling but it is not a run speed increase and certainly doesn't make you travel 30% faster.

I can't say about your Paladin as I have not rolled a BE Pallie, only a human. It was pretty darn easy to level though - I had some guild help in getting my pallie weapon quest done which gave me a great weapon at an early level so I am sure this helped, but it certainly was not the challenge to level that Tauren Druid has been.

To the OP:

I was looking at both starting as the same race, simply so we both started in the same area and team straight from the get go. I'm kinda liking the idea of the Tank/Healer combo...altho my time playing Tanks in CoH as proved that they lack damage in most cases, so battles ended up drawn out. Is it the same case here?

You can create a tanking class (Warrior, Paladin, Druid) and not spec as a tank. As long as you keep your gear up this will work just fine up until high level when you can respec if needed for end game.

A pallie specced for retribution, for example, will do fine damage and can easilly solo plus you will be aided by the DPS from your wife. Or if you wife has a class able to take some hits you can fill a healer role even if not specced as one while leveling. You won't be able to continue this practice for high level raiding but it should work just fine right up to lvl 60-70. You can even respec the pallie to protection after about lvl 45 and have a lot of fun. You would rely on your partner for damage with single pulls or magic users, but if you run in to a group of melee you can gather up 8 - 10 - or even 12-14 mobs at once and take them all out. Awesome feeling when you do that.

In this case every time you get hit it would deliver more damage to all the mobs around you - more mobs hitting you equals more damage being dealt. Very cool to watch and (I am told) even more cool to do.

If you want to continue this practice at higher levels most people wind up carrying 2 sets of armor - one for dps and one for healing, or, one for dps and one for tanking, etc.

Hope all this helps :smiley:

[elsegundo]

Zen,
i've leveled a tauren druid as my... fifth main character over level 20, and i have to say that the first 20 levels are probably the hardest, as i was putting a lot of my talents in feral before getting my cat form. once i got cat form though, things got a lot easier and i got everywhere a lot faster. also getting travel form at level 30 made it even easier to get around too. since level 20, i havent found it difficult at all to level up. i dont know but i thought the bear form quests and the aquatic form quests were pretty easy. though, i was given directions (but not direct help) by others who have already found the pendent peieces on the horde side. fighting the beast just outside mulgore, i found that to be pretty easy too. =]

oh and i totally agree, the barrens is huge and things are spread apart. but not enough to make me pull out my hairs. i just have to plan ahead.

[UltraChin]

Excellent, probably just one last question....for now, which of Druids/Shamans have better dps? I know I keep on about dps but this is simply because of my background in CoH, never played a pure healer class...was generally offensive with all my builds.

Think i'll let the missus try the Warrior role and i'll slip into something Healer-like, just need to decide on the race (but will do that when we arrive)...oh, i'll also be rolling a Dwarf Paladin...I love those little guys.

Thanks to all once again and you'll be garanteed to be hearing from me again at some point.

[Twoflower]

keep in mind that tanking is probaly the hardest task in WoW. healing sure is easier. so if you have the experience and your miss does not, i would suggest you do the tanking :)

that said, in WoW all classes can pec for damage. and it is recommended that you do that till you hit lvl cap to make leveling less boring. So i would recommend you to make 2 taurens ( cow thingy ). one warrior who will later tank and one druid which will later heal. But for the time you level, your warrior will run around with a big 2handed sword and your druid buddy will also run around in damage equip.

[Wintrow]

Shaman gets Ghost Wolf at L20 = +30% speed
but Druid gets Cat Form at L20 (no speed increase), then puts his L20 and L21 talent point in Feral Swiftness, BAM, Cat Form = +30% speed

Perfect IMO as long as you stick to feral for those first levels.

This feature also helps a hunter and a druid run at the same speed.

After maxing Feral Swiftness I STRONGLY recommend getting Furor from the Restoration-tree. Yes, it means you'll have to wait for Mangle a bit longer and yes, Mangle will rock your world, but Furor (and possibly Nature's Focus for those "heal self in a pinch"-moments) are worth it :grin: (IMO off course).

[irogue]

Excellent, probably just one last question....for now, which of Druids/Shamans have better dps? I know I keep on about dps but this is simply because of my background in CoH, never played a pure healer class...was generally offensive with all my builds.

Think i'll let the missus try the Warrior role and i'll slip into something Healer-like, just need to decide on the race (but will do that when we arrive)...oh, i'll also be rolling a Dwarf Paladin...I love those little guys.

Thanks to all once again and you'll be garanteed to be hearing from me again at some point.

I have 2 70 rogues, a 70 shadow priest, a 63 frost mage and a 59 shaman and I find my shaman has to struggle through most outland (The burning crusade) entry level quests. My shaman also has to stop to bandage/eat/drink a lot. Neither can my shaman fight with elite monsters like my mage because the lack or crowd-control, kiting, survival abilities.

My druid friend seldom has to sit down to eat/drink and he can tank/heal/dps. Druids are also good at PVP. Shaman? oh well, the healing shaman is the best tank in 5v5 arena.

In WOW, tanks are usually the most important roles in the endgame raids. However, what matters is what do you prefer or enjoy playing the most.

[elsegundo]

maybe you guys missed it... but he did say he decided to roll a dwarf pally.

[clevins]

Agreed on the tank/healer thing. But... think about picking hybrid classes for all around utility.

The thing is that you won't need a dedicated tank and healer to quest together... so having a class that can do good dps would be nice. An example... in an instance a druid can shift into bear form and be a tank while, say, a priest can heal. Out questing, the same druid can shift into cat form and do v good dps while the priest can dps too. Either can toss heals. And in a sticky situation, the druid can move into bear so they become more durable.

[Zendarin]

Excellent, probably just one last question....for now, which of Druids/Shamans have better dps? I know I keep on about dps but this is simply because of my background in CoH, never played a pure healer class...was generally offensive with all my builds.

Think i'll let the missus try the Warrior role and i'll slip into something Healer-like, just need to decide on the race (but will do that when we arrive)...oh, i'll also be rolling a Dwarf Paladin...I love those little guys.

Thanks to all once again and you'll be garanteed to be hearing from me again at some point.

That being the case I would definitely choose Druid for the other class. You actually trade healing/tanking duties if you wanted to at any time.

Bear form is great for tanking and specced Feral will do some decent damage as well.

Take a look at what the previous posters have said about the druid - there is some great info there - I am very glad to know that things will get much easier for my druid at lvl 20. I am at 18 right now.

If you are the healer for the team you will still be doing a lot of dps - just let the druid Bear go in and get agro before you step in so that if you need to heal you won't be getting interupted by getting beat on.